WASHINGTON — A House committee Thursday approved a bill to block a
planned Tohono O’odham casino in Glendale, the latest in three years of
so–far unsuccessful legislative and legal battles to stop the project.

Opponents said the bill, which passed the House Natural Resources
Committee 32–11, would break a contract between the United States and the tribe,
making the federal government vulnerable to extensive lawsuits as a
result.

But supporters of the bill,
sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, say inaction would destroy a
compact between the Indian nations and Arizona that allows gaming in
the state – or at least harm tribes’ bargaining power when gaming laws
are revised again.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Flagstaff, noted that the Tohono O’odham were
working to acquire the Glendale land where they now want to locate the
casino while simultaneously promoting a proposition that limited casinos
in Phoenix.

“It was insider trading,” he said. “That’s as good as it gets.”

The measure will now head to the full House for consideration.

The Tohono O’odham acquired the Glendale land after federal dams
flooded nearly 10,000 acres of reservation land in the early 1980s. As
compensation, Congress passed the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands
Replacement Act, which let the nation purchase replacement land and
possibly designate it as part of the reservation.

Under that deal, the Tohono O’odham
bought 135 acres in Glendale in 2003. They asked the Interior
Department to take 54 acres of that area into trust, creating
reservation land more than 100 miles away from the tribe’s
Connecticut–size reservation on the Arizona–Mexico border.

When the tribe announced plans for a casino complex on the land, it
sparked lawsuits from state and local governments and opposing tribes.
But state and federal courts have ruled in the Tohono O’odham’s favor.

In October, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the tribe’s application to take the land into trust. Earlier this year, a federal district court also approved the application and blocked Glendale from annexing the plot.

Because all Indian gaming requires an agreement with the state in
which a casino is located, the Arizona government and tribes agreed to a
compact that was passed by voters in 2002 – a year before the Tohono
O’odham bought the Glendale parcel. The compact limited the number of
casinos in the Phoenix metro area to seven, the current amount.

The Interior Department has said the proposed casino does not violate
the compact because there is an exception for reservation lands created
by an act of Congress, which applies to the Tohono O’odham land.

Grijalva also charged that by changing the Gila Bend land replacement
act, Franks’ bill runs the risk of unraveling other parts of the act,
such as an agreement between the Tohono O’odham and the federal
government over water rights that could leave the U.S. vulnerable to
lawsuits.

But a Washington attorney who represents another Arizona tribe, the
Gila River Indian Community, said Grijalva’s claim does not stand up
because the Tohono O’odham would not be owed water–use rights.

“It is not a water settlement,” Donald Pongrace said of the 1986 act. “It’s an affront to a water settlement.”

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have your say

1 comment on this story

I’m so sick of this story. This should have ended months ago. While admittedly not a lawyer, I can’t see where the anti-casino-crybabies have a leg to stand on. The Tohono O’odham have the land, and they have the gaming compact which says they can build a casino there.

The people who want to be able to tell you what you can and can’t do with your money probably know this, also. They’re just jamming up the courts, making everyone go blind on paperwork, hoping to make the Tohono O’odham sick of it all and just give up, while delaying it for as long as they can. It’s shameful.

I feel that it’s this simple…you don’t like casinos? Fine…don’t go to one. Problem solved.

Sorry, we missed your input...

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Flagstaff, said the Gila Bend Indian Reservation Lands Replacement Clarification Act, to block a casino in Glendale, would protect an agreement between Arizona and tribes that have gaming in the state.

Yes!

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